Installation guide

vSphere Client Software Requirements
Make sure that your operating system supports the vSphere Client.
The vSphere Client requires the Microsoft .NET 3.0 SP1 Framework. If your system does not have it installed,
the vSphere Client installer installs it.
For a list of supported operating systems, see the vSphere Compatibility Matrixes at
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf on the VMware vSphere
documentation Web site.
Support for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems
ESX offers support for several 64-bit guest operating systems.
See the Guest Operating System Installation Guide for a complete list.
64-bit guest operating systems have specific hardware requirements:
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For AMD Opteron-based systems, the processors must be Opteron Rev E and later.
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For Intel Xeon-based systems, the processors must include support for Intel Virtualization Technology
(VT). Many servers that include CPUs with VT support might ship with VT disabled by default, so you
must enable VT manually. If your CPUs support VT but you do not see this option in the BIOS, contact
your vendor to request a BIOS version that lets you enable VT support.
To determine whether your server has 64-bit VMware support, you can download the CPU Identification
Utility at the VMware downloads page: http://www.vmware.com/download/shared_utilities.html.
Requirements for Creating Virtual Machines
To create a virtual machine, the ESX/ESXi host must be able to support a virtual process, a virtual chip set, and
a virtual BIOS.
Each ESX/ESXi machine has the requirements shown in Table 4-6.
Table 4-6. Requirements for Creating Virtual Machines
Component Requirements
Virtual processor One, two, four, or eight processors per virtual machine
NOTE If you create a two-processor virtual machine, your ESXi machine must have
at least two physical core in processor.
Virtual chip set Intel 440BX-based motherboard with NS338 SIO chip
Virtual BIOS PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6
Required Ports
vCenter Server requires certain ports to send and receive data.
The vCenter Server system must be able to send data to every managed host and receive data from every
vSphere Client. To enable migration and provisioning activities between managed hosts, the source and
destination hosts must be able to receive data from each other.
vSphere Upgrade Guide
34 VMware, Inc.